Charlotte Howe, Viscountess Howe
Encyclopedia
Charlotte Howe, Viscountess Howe (23 September 1703 – 13 June 1782) was a British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 courtier
Courtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

 and politician.

Early life

Born Baroness Sophia Charlotte Mary (the order of her baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

al names were later changed after her marriage) von Kielmansegg (probably in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

), she was the eldest daughter of the Baron and Baroness von Kielmansegg (later Countess of Leinster
Earl of Leinster
Earl of Leinster was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 3 March 1646 for Robert Cholmondeley. He had already been created a Baronet, of Cholmondeley in the County of Chester, in the Baronetage of England on 29 June 1611 and Viscount Cholmondeley in the Peerage of Ireland on 2 July...

 and Darlington
Earl of Darlington
Earl of Darlington is a title that has been created twice, each time in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first time was in 1722 for the Baroness von Kielmansegg, half-sister1 of King George I. She was created Baroness Brentford at the same time...

), the half-sister of George Louis, Elector of Hanover
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....

. When the elector became King of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 in 1714, her family followed him to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Marriage

On 8 August 1719, Charlotte married Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe
Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe
Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe was a British politician and colonial administrator. He was member of parliament for Nottinghamshire from 1722 to 1732. From 1733 to 1735 he served as Governor of the West Indian colony of Barbados where he died of disease...

. Lord Howe's uncle, Emanuel Scrope Howe
Emanuel Scrope Howe
Lieutenant-General Emanuel Scrope Howe , of The Great Lodge, Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire, was an English diplomat, army officer and Member of Parliament.-Life:...

, had been the English Minister to Hanover in 1706–9, and the husband of Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...

's illegitimate daughter Ruperta. The Howes were thus already known to the Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

ian nobility. Lady Howe's close relations with the Royal Family encouraged gossip in Britain that her mother was a mistress of the king and that she was his daughter, but has since been rejected by modern historians. Lady Howe brought a dowry of £5000 and an annuity of £1500 per year. In addition, the king gave the couple £750 per annum, which was later raised to £1250. This helped relieve pressure on the Howe estate at Langar, Nottinghamshire
Langar, Nottinghamshire
Langar is a small village about four miles south of Bingham in Nottinghamshire and the Vale of Belvoir.-Geography:To the south of the parish of Langar cum Barnstone, on Langar Airfield, it borders Clawson, Hose and Harby, the district of Melton and Leicestershire. At Hose Lane it meets Colston...

 and supported the family's attempts to extend their political patronage. The couple had ten children, among whom were Hon. George Augustus Howe
George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe
George Augustus Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe was a career officer and a Brigadier General in the British Army. He was described by James Wolfe as "the best officer in the British Army"...

, Hon. Richard Howe
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...

 and Hon. William Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence...

 (successively Viscounts Howe).

Politics

Lady Howe travelled to Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

 after her husband was appointmented governor in 1732. Following his death in 1735, Lord Howe's sister, the Dowager Countess of Pembroke
Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke
Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke may refer to:*Mary Sidney, married name Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, , one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works...

, lobbied for Lady Howe to be appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber
Lady of the Bedchamber
This is an incomplete list of those who have served as Lady of the Bedchamber in the British Royal Household...

 to the Princess of Wales, and she was eventually appointed in 1745, perhaps as a consequence of the political alliance between the Howe family and the Pelhams
Duke of Newcastle
Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a title which has been created three times in British history while the title of Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne has been created once. The title was created for the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 when William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne...

 in Nottinghamshire.

Lady Howe then assumed management of the family's political interests in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

. In 1758, following the death of her eldest son, the 3rd Viscount Howe at the Battle of Carillon
Battle of Carillon
The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War...

, the Duke of Newcastle
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.A protégé of Sir Robert Walpole, he served...

 proposed that her next son, Richard, take the former's parliamentary seat. John Plumptre, who had earlier been Newcastle's choice as Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

 member for the seat (but had been manoeuvred out of the seat by the Howes), was compensated with Richard's seat for Dartmouth. Instead, Lady Howe accepted a petition asking that her youngest son, William
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence...

 take the seat, and so ensured that the family would still hold two seats in the Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

.

As the influence of the Smith banking family in Nottingham politics grew after the 1758 election, that of the Howe family diminished and Lady Howe returned to court where she held some influence over access to the now Dowager Princess of Wales. She remained active at court well into old age and appeared in the same circles as Walpole and Lady Mary Coke
Lady Mary Coke
Lady Mary Coke was an English letter writer and noblewoman.-Marriage and separation:...

 and defended her family's actions during the American War of Independence. She died in 1782 at her home in Albemarle Street
Albemarle Street
Albemarle Street is a street in Mayfair in central London, off Piccadilly. It has historic associations with Lord Byron, whose publisher John Murray was based here, and Oscar Wilde, a member of the Albemarle Club, where an insult he received led to his suing for libel and to his eventual imprisonment...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

and was buried at Langar.
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